Butterworth
We walked through a park area which used to be a market and was being redesigned. At the end of the park we spotted a little cafe which was full of people, so we went to check out what they were eating. It was prawn mee (prawn noddle soup). It looked really good so, as we were not too hungry we shared one. It was really tasty. The lady also recommended we try a local Penang drink - nutmeg juice. This was also really nice and very sweet.
Next stop was the clan jetties, there are 3 jetties you can walk along where historically the Chinese families lived in their different clans. We went along 2, the first being very traditional and the second completely touristy with lots of shops and cafes. The second, the Chew Jetty had a lovely temple where lots of flowers were displayed as offerings. In the distance we could see another temple that we had visited on another trip.
Along the road we came to the ferry port -Jeti. We waited for a few minutes for the next ferry to arrive. The ferries are now large speed boats. The usual ferries are out of action possibly because of their age. In fact the whole port area is having a major redevelopment. We boarded the ferry, found some seats and 20 minutes later arrived in Butterworth.
We were in a huge building and we walked for miles to find the train station we were looking for. We hoped to we could book the KTM commuter in advance but sadly no we have to pay on the day. Unfortunately, the day we live a huge amount of other people probably will too!
There was a little bit of time left before we returned to Penang on the ferry so we had a look around the huge station. It appeared to be a shopping centre with a lot of vacant shops. Time was up so we purchased our ferry ticket for the return leg. You only have to pay one way. The ferry journey was quick and we were back just in time for the rain. In fact it rained most of the afternoon. We sheltered a little, walked a little and eventually decided to eat. An unlimited banana leaf meal filled us up and although we have eaten far better, we ate a lot!
Still raining we changed location to a restaurant just down the road where we sat and drank teh tarik whilst we waited for our friend to meet us.
We had eaten too much but our friend was hungry. She opted to order food delivered by Grab. The meal was a mix of so many different things and looked amazing. She also ordered 3 peanut deserts for us to try and they were all sooo good! We chatted for the rest of the evening whilst we could her fireworks outside but couldn't see them. There was also Chinese drumming for lion dancing coming from somewhere but we had no idea where!
